MY money.

Me and Jesse got back from Outbound, it was our 'candidate week' for Operation Mobilization. I knew I wanted to post about it, but the entire week was just so epic. After 5 weeks of digesting, it is still overwhelming HOW MUCH God taught me. Maybe I'll break it down into different post.

I think the hugest difference is my attitude towards 'support raising'. 'Support raising' a really sweet term for asking people to give us their hard earned money for no particularly good reason except that's how missions work in the new testament was funded. And THAT is truly how I thought of it. I was basically dreading it. Raising money was an uncomfortable step int his journey of God's calling in our lives, “lets get it over with”.

But before I understood asking and receiving financial support, God wanted me to understand GIVING.

The first thing that hit me was that the 'money culture' of America is in opposition to New Testament church. They gave "freely to any who were in need". FREELY? To ANYONE? Wow. I realized that I had a deep anchored belief in my own 'right' to my 'hard earned' money. Especial after 18 months of scratching up dimes to pay of our student loans, I became so aware of the value of the dollar, I don;t particularly want to share mine with others. “I mean, what if they don't budget responsibly like I do?”

OM had us study basically every verse in the bible dealing with giving. I was surprised, (a lot) with how much it mentions Jesus' ministry as being supported by others, so not only does giving make us more like Jesus for all the obvious reasons, but “getting' makes us infinitely more like Him too. Here he is the emperor of creation and his ministry was supported by rich widows. Why? For his sake. NO. Definitely for the sake and journey and heart of the giver.

The Heart of the Giver.

The other thing that stood out to me, is that a huge barrier to giving isn't as much selfishness, but lack of faith. God wants me to get UNCOMFORTABLE for him. He wants me to empty us of our financial comfort zone, so that he can bless us beyond what I ask or imagine.

A giver can experience the same joy from giving, that I receive from the actual ministry? How could I deprive a friend or family member from that opportunity? 

And it must be stated, the simplest truth, although i forget it daily. It ALL belongs to HIM anyways.

I serve an amazing God. Who can transform my hard heart to "how much can i save?" to "how much can i give away?"

 I went from a girl who would sheepishly ask for 'monthly support” to an impassioned servant joyfully asking YOU to get uncomfortable for God and WATCH as He blesses you beyond your wildest dreams.

He will make our path straight.

Life has moved along so quickly as we wait to go the the Outbound Conference at Operation Mobilization in September. I work for University of Georgia College of Environmental Science Extention office's Youth Development Program, better know as 4-H. It is the largest youth organization in the world and an answer to prayer while I was working as a day care center and wondering if God was going to give me a job that utilized my gifts and passions.
So three years ago I was hired on as a 4-H program assistant in Fayette County. It was a magical, or providential blend of my passion for youth, as well as my interest in environmental education. I have enjoyed the work so much and it had been the perfect part time job in aiding our family to pay off student loans as well as have time with my family. In may my boss resigned and the district coordinator asked me to interview for his position. Me and jesse have been mulling over it for weeks: the money could be good to save up, but would distract us from our true goals?
All the time, I was filling in for the full time position with a lot of extra hours and events. I went through so many phases of being excited for the great opportunity, to doubting what the time away would effect my family, always praying and asking God that He would direct our path. We finally decided 3 weeks ago that I would go for the position with the rational that it would be a team effort with Jesse to save so that he could get his masters whenever the situation presented itself. We then went on vacation at which I was distracted and preoccupied with work calls and scheduling. The night we got home we both felt it, and as we were talking before bed Jesse implored “don't take that job”. We both knew, and my heart was so filled with joy! A weight I hadn't even realized was there was off and I knew God had provided us with the right path. He gives and takes away, and he provides us as much of the path that we need, sometimes invisible, the perfect balance of faith and security.
So we are looking forward to the Outbound Conference! This will be a week of encouragement and training, afterward we will find out if we are officially accepted by OM, and what field we will be going on, so that we can begin the support raising process. So we are moving full steam ahead with our focus on ministry! As we come upon our three year anniversary week, and Soren's first birthday. we are so excited about the conference at the end of the month. Fall is my favorite season and this has always been a month of change, who know where we will be this time next year!

Operation Mobilization and Community West

Praise the Lord we are DEBT FREE! After an intense 16 months of budgeting and living off rice and bean, we have paid off all our student loans! I can’t believe it, I remember crying on my sister’s bed two years ago because it seemed like me and Jesse would never be able to pay off our loans and pursue our calling to do missions in Eastern Europe: but honestly it was such a fun journey! It helped us better communicate, manage finances, and live on very little! (Which will probably come in handy if we do go to the mission field)

What’s next? We have applied to Operation Mobilization, and have been moved to the Assessment Stage of the application process, after that we get accepted or not, and then we begin raising support! Please pray for guidance as we are directed to a field of ministry. God has also opened up a new ministry opportunity for our family. Our home church is planting churches in the south metro area and Jesse has been chosen to be the assistant pastor at the Peachtree City location. We are so excited about our new church home and family: Community West!

Søren and Wicket becoming friends.

Our Call to Missions

Well, what makes a person want to pack up a tiny part of their life and move to another country leaving family and friends behind while living on the financial support of others and God’s grace. It’s the desire to share abundant life in Christ with the world, but how did we get here to this specific passion in our lives? For me (Dre) my faith began when I was only six years old. I was raised in the church and was confused one Sunday night when I was not allowed to eat the crackers for communion. My mom and dad explained that communion was for people who had confessed their sin to God and trusted Him for His forgiveness and eternal life in Christ. THAT WAS ME!, so I accepted him that night. When I was eleven I went to a Children Bible Camp called Camp Icthus. The Bible verse summer was “here I am, send me” from Isaiah. While praying during my quiet time, it dawned on me that if God really loved me, that it would be in His will for my life, that I would find the most Joy! This was a startling and freeing realization, and at that moment I know God was calling me to overseas ministry! Throughout my teen years I dabbled in other interest, but when it was time to choose a college, Toccoa Falls was the One, and I decided to major in Cross-Cultural Studies. Toccoa’s School of World mission was amazing in educating me in anthropology and preparing me for life as a missionary. Junior year you spend 5 months creating an ethnography of a culture, and then do an internship there over the summer. I chose (well God chose) Bosnia, and went with Operation Mobilization. I spent 5 weeks Bihac, 3 weeks in the mountains at a camp ministry, and 1 week in Sarajevo. I met beautiful people and explored wonderful places, most importantly I learned a ton! Jesse was born and raised in Minnesota an grew up in the Lutheran church. He became a youth pastor after graduating high school. It was during this time that he began to read the Bible more and realized that the ‘everyone eventually goes to heaven” philosophy he had been thought was not in scripture. He spent an agonizing night praying and asking God to reveal him the truth, it was that night that he truly accepted Christ as his savior and the only way to heaven. When he was 21, it was time to go to school and he choose this tiny bible college in north Georgia (He said he liked the website). During his freshman year, he was attending church service at a CMA church and answered the call to missions. This set a course for his life in ministry. (It also made him eligible to date me. Which began 8 months later, but that’s another story) We Graduated, Got married … and here we are, it feels like such a long journey and it hasn’t even begun, and God has yet to reveal his wonders… "Look at the nations and watch--and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” Habakkuk 1:5 There nothing like a ‘nations’ verse to give you the goose bumps.

Priorities: God thinks BIG. Think with Him.

December 2010- With the New Year, me and Jesse began to evaluate our goals.

Jump Back. We met at Toccoa Falls College six years ago (2004), both with a passion for ministry: I was convinced I would be a single missionary to Cambodia, He was an older freshman , 21 years old, having come from 3 years as a youth pastor. Our friendship grew our freshman year, I admired his leadership and his hotness, he was intrigue by my unbridled personality and by the beginning of our sophomore her convinced me to keep my passions for mission, but negotiated I drop the ‘single’ part. Thus we started dating (even though all our friends had kissed it goodbye).

We dated two and a half years and spring of our senior year he asked me to marry him, I said yes, and we kissed for the first time ever! It was nice.

2 months later we graduated: Me with a degree in Cross-cultural Studies and Counseling, Jesse with a degree with Philosophy and Religion.

Then, in September, with the cool autumn air, friends, family, and turkey legs we devoted our lives to each other under the waterfall where we first fell and love.

The last 2 years has been a journey. Our primary goal was paying off our student loans so that we could due full time ministry. Dave Ramsey’s ministry help us a ton and I am proud to say that we have paid off $22,000 in student loans in 1 ½ years with a take home pay around 30,000. We have under $10,000 left and plan to be debt free by this summer! However we were also busy doing other things over the past years: we bought a beautiful home (a foreclosure and an absolute blessing) a cute little puppy (a little less of a blessing) ---And the biggest blessing of all, Our Son, Soren Xavier McCourtney!

Jump forward to December 2010. Over the past 2 years we have never lost sight of wanting to do ministry

full-time! With the last of our loans soon to be paid, we are excited about the next stage of our lives! We are currently praying for guidance in which direction to go. We are open to anything God has for us! We are looking into Christian camp ministries that need full time directors/counselors/programmers and we are also researching Missions opportunities and are currently applying with Operation Mobilization International. Please Pray God will guide our hearts to the right opportunity!